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Dee Dee Myers: Clinton and Obama in Extra Innings

The Democratic presidential primary is like a baseball game that was fantastic for the first 10 or 11 innings but is now dragging into the 17th. It's 1:30 in the morning, the score is still tied, and the fans just want to go home. Can somebody win already!

Yes, Hillary Clinton is still in the game, but team Obama is at the plate, the bases are loaded, and there's only one out. That said, the late innings haven't brought out the best on either side. Both teams are increasingly blowing the easy plays.

Surely fatigue helps explain why Barack Obama made such a rookie mistake at a San Francisco fundraiser last week. Almost everyone—including, I suspect, Hillary Clinton—knows what he was trying to say. Democrats have been increasingly frustrated over the past two decades, as middle- and working-class Americans vote their "values" rather than their economic interests. But, as Obama just found out, it's hard to talk about that phenomenon without sounding like you think those voters are too dumb to know what's good for them.For her part, Clinton is so eager to stay in the game that she's arguing with ump about every pitch. There's no doubt that Obama's inelegant words will continue to plague him, should he make it to the next round (which he presumably will). But his error won't decide the game, either now or in the fall. And it's getting hard to watch a veteran—who is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, even if she hasn't always been a favorite of either the fans or the press—reduced to this. Wouldn't she better off going out on a high note, ending the game with dignity? After all, there is almost certainly another season for her. (For instance, should Obama lose to McCain, doesn't she become the frontrunner for 2012?)

But players don't get to the Big Leagues by giving up. The discipline, desire to win, and innate talent that got Hillary and Obama there in the first place will keep them there for at least a couple more innings. So the fans will just have wait—even if they stopped selling beer hours ago.